Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday
Worship
Service for May 12, 2024
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Sing to God a new song!
P: for God has done marvelous things!
L: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth.
P: for God is still doing marvelous things!
L: Break into joyful song!
P: Sing praises with the lyre and melody and
trumpets!
L: Let the seas roar and the floods clap
their hands!
P: For God is coming to judge the world with
righteousness.
L: God is coming to judge the world with
equity.
P: Sing to God a new song!
Opening Hymn – Come, Thou
Fount of Every Blessing #356/11
Prayer of Confession
Forgiving and gracious God,
You have called us to be the church, to live out our Resurrection faith. You have asked us to place our trust in You
and to bring to all the good news of Your saving love. But we have failed to do this. We have given our faith a back seat to the
troubles of the world and to the stresses in our own life. We look for the quick and easy answers. Forgive us for the smallness of our
faith. You, who raised Christ from the
dead, have promised to raise our spirits and bring us to new life. You have done this and yet, we remain static
in our response to You. Clear our
spirits of the clutter of everyday living.
Help us to be open always to Your word and Your love. Challenge us to move in directions of peace
and hope for all people. These things we
pray in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord.
(Silent prayers are offered)
AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Forgiveness and love have been poured out
upon you, to offer hope to all nations.
You are called and blessed to be messengers of God’s good news to all people.
P: For
this we give thanks to God. We are
forgiven and called to be a blessing to others.
AMEN.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and
the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Lord, we sometimes wonder why You bother
with us. Throughout history, You have
called to humankind to be Your people and Your witnesses. You have given to each a blessing. But the historical record reveals the
stubborn, selfish responses of Your people.
We think that we deserve Your blessing and don’t have to do Your will. We have acted in unrighteous ways far too
often. Today You continue to call us
together to hear the words of Jesus as He prayed for His disciples, telling You
that His love for them is complete and that He believes in them. We would like to think that we are included
in that number, that Jesus prays for us and loves us, too. And, indeed, he does. He has given His life for us. Now we are called to give our lives for Him,
to be united with Him and with You. We
are called to offer all the good news that Your love is real and powerful; that
Your healing mercy is for all people.
So, today we offer our prayers for our families and our friends who are
in situations of need, asking for Your blessings upon them. We pray for….
This day we especially give thanks for
our mothers – those present, those still living, those who now live with you in
heaven, and for wonderful mother figures in our lives that cared for us and
shaped us.
We raise our voices in a chorus of
pleading for You to be present to all Your people, creating pathways of
peace. Be with us, gracious Lord. Help us to witness to the world, not only by
our words and our thoughts, but also by our actions and our deeds, so that Your
peace may be known.
And now, O Lord, we lift our silent
petitions to You.
Hearing us Lord, we lift our voices
together praying; Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken #446/400
3 vs. Blue
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
108
Second Scripture Reading – John
17:6-19
Sermon –
Jesus Prayed
(John 17:6-19)
Jesus
prayed for his disciples. Much of today’s
message comes from an article in The Cottage by Diana Butler Bass. Today’s passage is not a well thought out proscribed
prayer like the Lord’s Prayer; when one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach
them how to pray. Instead, it is simply one
of Jesus’ prayers that happened to get written down. This isn’t a prayer to control a situation. It isn’t a prayer to manipulate others or
God. And it isn’t a prayer that tries to
fix things or make anything better. Instead,
I think it sounds like one of our own kinds of prayers, the kind that come out
of desperation — Jesus actually seems to be begging God to shield his friends
from the consequences of his impending death.
And it’s a rather lengthy prayer.
The
word protect dominates the prayer. And although not included in today’s
lectionary reading, the words oneness and love dominate
the second half of the prayer in John 17:20-26.
Jesus wants those he loves to be
safe, and to find a sense of security in their unity with each other, with him,
and with God.
What
is compelling and surprising about this supplication is that Jesus has no
outcome in mind other than the well-being of those for whom he prayed. There’s absolutely no sense that Jesus has any
other intent. And he didn’t instruct God
on how to protect and guard them. This
isn’t a bossy Jesus that tells God how to do it; rather, this is more of a
begging Jesus. And that’s kind of strange. Does Jesus even have to ask this of God? What about all that oneness between the two of
them? If they are indeed of one mind and
have the same goals, the same ideals, want the same outcomes for the disciples
and the world, this prayer seems awfully weird.
And if you look at it and scrutinize it too closely, it makes a mess of
trinitarian theology!
But,
maybe by praying to Abba, Father Jesus isn’t trying to convince God. Maybe he’s trying to convince himself that
his friends will be alright in his absence. Through three chapters in this section of
John’s gospel, you can hear it if you listen for it — Jesus is upset. He’s trying to keep calm and carry on in the
face of incredible danger. He’s being
brave for his friends. But anxiety
continues to break through the surface of sacred reserve. Jesus is scared for himself, for the future,
and for his beloved companions.
And
so, he uttered this panicky, pleading petition.
One that we can empathize with.
Because sometimes our own prayers make little sense. We pray them out of panic. We pray them out of desperation. We pray them, quite often, when we hardly
have the words to describe what we are feeling and going through. Perhaps when his disciples asked Jesus to
teach them how to pray, this prayer might have been a better model.
Because
when he prayed for his friends, in this prayer, in spite of all that
desperation, he seemed to find himself again. His words ended up centering more deeply in
God, and his own fears become, at least momentarily, alleviated. Again, from verses later on in John 17: The
glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one as we
are one; I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that
the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have
loved me (John 17:22-23).
I’ll
be honest, in all the years that I’ve been a pastor, I’m not that great at
extemporaneous prayers. I’d rather have
a nice, neat, written prayer; one that is well thought out, expressing exactly
the intent I want. In those comfortable,
written prayers, whether they are written by others or written by myself, they
feel safe. I can lose myself in those
prayers, hiding safely in and being shaped by those words. I know I won’t say the wrong thing, or get
trapped in repeating myself, or ask God for something impossible. But here, Jesus prayed extemporaneously. And it wasn’t a well thought-out prayer. It was indeed one of desperation. And yet, he found his voice in it. Ultimately, prayer isn’t about changing
others; it isn’t about changing particular circumstances. I think Jesus
teaches us in this prayer that Prayer is about changing ourselves by
rooting us more assuredly in relationship with others, reminding us of our
oneness with God, and experiencing the love which has held us since “before the
foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
By
praying for a friend who is afraid, perhaps we ourselves learn to be less so. Marcus Borg was asked about prayer and he
said, “At the very least, I am convinced that prayer changes us — that it
transforms those who pray.” He then wrote
a short article expanding on that comment:
My understanding and practice of prayer are
grounded in my understanding of God, the Sacred. I see God as a presence, as the one “in whom
we live and move and have our being,” to quote words attributed to Paul in Acts
17.28.
For me, prayer – addressing God, paying
attention to my relationship with God — is about reminding me of the reality
and presence of God in the course of my day and days. It is about centering more deeply in God and
about “opening” to God. It helps me to
be more centered, more present, more appreciative.”
Borg goes on to ask,
What about prayers in which we ask for something
— prayers of petition and intercession? To speak personally (and how else can
we speak?), I do not think of God as an interventionist — that God “decides” to
answer some prayers. To imagine that God sometimes intervenes leaves all the
non-interventions inexplicable.
And yet I “do” both petitionary and intercessory
prayer. I pray for help for myself…I
also pray for help and health and protection for family, friends, and “the
world.” Doing so is a natural expression
of caring; for me, it would be unnatural not do this. And not to do so because I can’t imagine how
it works would be an act of intellectual arrogance — if I can’t imagine how
something works, then it can’t work.
So, I don’t believe that God sometimes
intervenes to answer prayer. But this
doesn’t prevent me from thinking that prayer sometimes has effects, even though
I can’t imagine how. I am very willing
to think of other ways of imagining God’s relation to the world, such as
speaking of divine intention and divine interaction…I am convinced that prayer
changes us — that it transforms those who pray.
Diana
Butler Bass wonders if maybe Jesus didn’t know how prayer worked either. Or, maybe he understood on such a profound
level that his prayer in John 17 is a model for how we all should pray — for
protection, unity, awareness, and love. Even
when we’re anxious. Or desperate. When we care so much about others that we long
for their well-being and safety in difficult times. Perhaps especially then. And I think she’s right.
Prayer
isn’t a magic trick or manipulation. It
is mystery and transformation. May we
all learn how to pray more often, both with words that are well thought-out and
written down, as well as those desperation moments when we barely know what to
say. As long as they center on expressing
our deepest desires, and as they center on others and our unity in Christ, God
hears them all. And by doing this,
prayer has the transformational power to change us.
Thanks
be to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Pour
Your Spirit upon these gifts, O God.
Send them into the world as a sign and song of Your joyous work of
love. Use them to call and welcome into
Your house of love all who are seeking shelter, a place of rest, and a
gathering of friends. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – Blessed Assurance #341/572
Benediction –
The power
and love of Jesus Christ is with you. You
are sent forth to be his witnesses in the world, bringing the good news,
healing, establishing ministries of justice and peace. Go in confidence as the power and love of God
goes with you. AMEN.
Postlude
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